Dutch festival lovers head across Belgium border to party

Dutch partygoers have been driving across the border in large groups to celebrate there, the AD reported.

In Belgium, large-scale events with up to 75 thousand visitors are allowed to go through provided the attendees are able to present proof of a Covid-19 vaccination, proof of recovery from a recent Covid-19 infection, or a negative coronavirus test. German clubs are also open.

“I missed people around me. Nice dancing. The freedom of a festival”, Manon van Wees from Rotterdam told the AD. She really wanted to visit a festival this summer but that was not an option in the Netherlands.

Therefore, she, like roughly 2,500 other people from the Netherlands, traveled to Antwerp last weekend for the Transit Festival. “I’ve been vaccinated, so I didn’t hesitate”, Van Wees said.

“We expect a thousand visitors from the Netherlands this weekend”, co-organizer of Voodoo Village, a festival in the Belgium town of Grimbergen in Belgium with ten thousand visitors. “And we could have sold a lot more tickets to you, but they were sold out.”

Organizer of the W-Festival in Oostende Erik de Ridder estimated that 15 percent of the 30 thousand visitors to his event last weekend came from the Netherlands. “Everyone is elated. People have waited a long time”, De Ridder said.